Overall things went well for us. The only real downside was the utter lack of sleep leading to exhausted delirium at the final stop on Christmas day.

I would say the highlight of the day was her request to spend Christmas day in the new Darth Vader costume she had just gotten (day after Halloween shopping for Christmas is the best!) So that was fun. Oh, and her squealing "I love Darth VADER" in a glorious fangirl voice as she was getting dressed was pretty great, too.

Mine was bananas. Family Christmas been adult-centric for so long, having the new step-niece and -nephew (7 y.o.) was a real shock to the system. Couple highlights...Handing my gift to them (Twister), they would not even reach over to take it. Finally, after several moments of standing there and leaning over like an idiot, just set the present down on the floor and walked away. "This is from me....Here you go...It's for both of you...(crickets)."Finally they opened it. "Oh...Twister."Barely acknowledged, and of course no thanks. Wish their parents would have said something but ah well, kids.Hours later..."Play Twister with meeeeee!! Now!!!" Not to mention all the rough-housing, jumping on me at the same time after repeated pleas to stop. Finally parent intervened, right when I was about to start freaking out. It makes me feel very unsafe to be overpowered by two rowdy kids who can easily tackle me to ground.My fail: they commented that I had not received many gifts. My mom (who is a saint and played with them all day), replied that I was very naughty and therefore Santa didn't bring me anything (haha). 7 year old, to my mom: Umm but YOU should have gotten her something! To which I replied: yeah, and what did you get me?? Ugh that was not cool. I still feel sorta bad. They both looked at me with wide eyes, so I said "All I really want is a hug! Could you guys give me hugs?" and they did, which was very sweet.

Ugh, awful timing!! *hugs* It sounds like you've been pretty supportive as far as the spectrum of responses goes, and I am sure transitioning/coming out is not easy. And it sounds like you saw the need for a split coming, but I think it's really inconsiderate to ruin somebody's holiday like that. I am sure your spouse is very inwardly focused right now, and maybe that's necessary, but you have legitimate feelings and grievances as well. I can't imagine how tough it is being trans in a ciscentric world, but surely trans people realize how tough it is on the spouses that they married without being totally open/honest about who they are!

I know it's not the same, but with a deployment coming up and the holidays, we're dealing with a lot of awkwardly timed splits at my husband's work and it just makes me annoyed at people. I want to yell at them to sort their shiitake out during down times. Every couple goes through a little pre-D crazies and bickering, but it's not easy.

Ours is good. We had a couple problems: the DS game that did not go over well

Aw. Is that the one you asked about? What did you give him?

Yep. I got him a Professor Layton game. I looked them up before buying and liked what I saw. The game looked like a lot of fun to me, but he wasn't feeling it. And he didn't like that the puzzles didn't come with obvious instructions.

I want that game so bad! My husband and kids got me the DS 3D for xmas. I'm like a young teenager all over again except if that were the case it would have been the original gameboy....jeez i'm old.

Our christmas was great. Kids loved their presents. Miles is obsessed with the 2 trucks we got him which are about the same size as him. He also got a Scooter that he uses all over the house until it's nice enough outside. At 1 1/2 he's better on his scooter then Reno at 5 is on hers. Reno loves her Pretend School thing we got her but I'm tired of being the teacher already.

I'm so sorry, flava. After you've been so willing to be a passenger on your partner's journey, how you've tried to make things work (despite how at times your partner sounds very self-involved). And at Christmas again? Jeez. Thats not fair to you. Please be well.

_________________Did you notice the slight feeling of panic at the words "Chicken Basin Street"? Like someone was walking over your grave? Try not to remember. We must never remember. - mumblesIs this about devilberries and nazifruit again? - footface

I obviously do not have kids of my own, but my siblings are 7 and my stepmother talked to me on the phone at 6pm, after spending 4 hours trying to put together a "ghost train" lego set for my brother.

I'm calling that a misery for her.

(when they were 2, I spent 3 hours setting up these playmobile car things with her, one of which hadn't been stamped out correctly at the factory, so we ended up taking a power drill to it at 2am, there is not a good "putting toys together" track record in that household)

_________________Space has stared into the tiny syrup holes of our shame and it does not judge us. - Amandabear

I am so very sorry flava. I think that no matter what has happened before, serving divorce papers on Christmas is unnecessarily hostile. It sounds like you both have a mutual decision to separate and I hope you can find a way to keep things civil for Ezra's sake. If this turns nasty, you could try to remind him that the only people who profit from a contentious divorce are the lawyers.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

Ours is good. We had a couple problems: the DS game that did not go over well

Aw. Is that the one you asked about? What did you give him?

Yep. I got him a Professor Layton game. I looked them up before buying and liked what I saw. The game looked like a lot of fun to me, but he wasn't feeling it. And he didn't like that the puzzles didn't come with obvious instructions.

Has TRS ever played Scribblenauts? He sounds like a big reader and super imaginative kid, so I bet it'd be right up his alley. You summon objects to help you solve situational problems, like "get this T-rex from one side of the map to the other". So you'd write in a hot air balloon and rope ladder, for example, attach the rope to the ballon, then attach the whole thing to the T-rex, which will then float across the level. There're infinite ways to solve problems, and the more recent versions of the game involve adjectives.

_________________Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bisque in space.

Ours is good. We had a couple problems: the DS game that did not go over well

Aw. Is that the one you asked about? What did you give him?

Yep. I got him a Professor Layton game. I looked them up before buying and liked what I saw. The game looked like a lot of fun to me, but he wasn't feeling it. And he didn't like that the puzzles didn't come with obvious instructions.

Aw, that's too bad. Maybe it's something you can do with him or something?

The puzzles do range from embarassingly obvious to quite oblique. You might point out the hint coin thing too...

My Christmas misery has been being trapped at my parent's house snowed in and without electricity since Christmas night. It just came back on an hour ago. Babynut has been bundled in several layers of clothes and a bunting the entire time. So cold! Luckily, I had cooked a big spread of delicious food before we lost the lights so we pretty much just ate too much and complained a lot.

So sorry flava. I had a few horrible break-up-on-valentine's days in a row and it sucked. I really hope you have a better christmas next year!!

Ours went pretty well with kai. He was such a doll visiting the inlaws all over Canada. He was so nice and cuddly to his grandparents even though he only gets to see them once a year, and was especially sweet to all the old ladies in the retirement home. He slept well every night even though we were travelling in all different places.

The only problem was by yesterday he'd really gotten used to this present thing. He got them from his NJ grandma, and when he was done opening them he said "more presents nana more!!" but when he didn't get any more, threw a big tantrum on the floor. I just told him he should be happy with all that he got, to stop being greedy and say thank you. Then he did the same thing again today at his pop-pops. Luckily neither tantrum lasted long and in the end he told everyone thank you and said, "happy holidays!" for the first time. It was too cute.

_________________I'm not asking for utopian dreams...just a little peace in this world. That's a logical thing. - Deee-Lite